Name: Aldous Clark Bonifacio
Course: GD Batch 14
Branch: Alabang
Internship Venue: Indianapolis Marriott Downtown
Aldous started his internship at the bakeshop of Marriott Downtown and stayed in the kitchen area for 7 months. His pastry chef taught him the techniques on how to properly bake the pastries and to make desserts for the restaurant. He also learned from her how to prepare other baked goods like muffins, danishes, croissants, cinnamon rolls, etc… for the buffet, banquets, concierge amd In-room dining.
He was also assigned to work at the banquet kitchen and had the chance to work at both sides of the kitchen (hot and cold) where he learned how to prepare and cook foods in bulk. He was taught how to routinely clean proteins and produce, to properly store them and to accurately cook them in the right temperatures. As a result, these opened his eyes to different preparation methods along with cooking techniques that helped him do his tasks far easier and faster.
He was last assigned to work at the Champions Sports Bar where he worked as a line cook and had been assigned to different parts of the kitchen. He was able to experience doing hundreds of covers every night or up to thousands of covers per day.
Excerpts from his journal:
Marriott Downtown
- Orientation day: They discussed the company’s policies and procedures. We were also introduced to our superiors, HR, Accounting, etc…
- Chef Janet showed me how to bake Apple Crisp, Blueberry Muffin, Orange Muffin, Jalapeno Corn Muffins, etc… We had set up the Breads, Fillings, and Pastries for Breakfast Buffet.
- We did a lot of things. We baked Muffins, Croissants, Danish, Set up Buffet, Pastries, set up in room service pastries with Chef Isela from Mexico.
- We cooked Oats, Tomato Soup, Scrambled Eggs, Bacons, and Sausages. I peeled a lot of tomatoes, cut onions.
- We prepared 3,000+ plates for banquet and I received a lot of commendations from the cooks and chefs. I cooked from 8AM to 7PM
- I made Baked Crusted Pork Loin with Dijon Marsala Sauce, Spinach, and Kale Salad with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette and Grilled Corn Cub for 250 people. I’m glad that people liked it. My chef and everyone congratulated me and it felt so good. I’m glad that it ended well.
- I made sure that I have a lots of flour tortillas on my station because we sell a lot of quesadillas. I changed the pans and made sure that everything is filled.
- I had to stock a lot of ice cream, desserts, salad mix and stuff that I needed on my station for the Gen Con.
“In general, I had an amazing time working abroad. Not only have I learned a lot about other cultures but also it has distinctly sharpened my culinary and baking skills. Likewise, it helped me to be more confident and independent being far from my family, homeland, and other usual comfort zones. Consequently, these meaningful internship experiences helped me grow a lot as an individual to take any challenges head on and qualify for future opportunities that may come my way; thus, fully realizing my dream of becoming a successful chef.”
abl@globalacademy 